(TELLER COUNTY, Colo) — On the third weekend of June, it’s not hard to find hidden gems in the City of Mines.
“The town of Victor is just so historic,” said Shelly Birch, the Owner of Stone Jewelry. “It’s a mining town to begin with.
Because in a town where gold was first discovered in the area around the late 1800s, the Victor Gem and Mineral Show is the perfect way to celebrate Victor’s heritage.
“I would say it’s a profession, but more like just a creative, fun time versus some of the other shows we do,” said Garnet Griebel, Owner of Ra.Stones.
Courtesy: FOX21’s Hunter Phipps
The show brings gem vendors from around the country, including Birc,h who sells and makes her products here in Colorado.
“I’ve been doing it for about 26 years, and I love doing it because often I’d look at jewelry and I’d say that’s just too symmetrical for me,” Birch said. “I want something a little more unusual.”
Griebel and Scott Mendenhall, the owners of Ra.Stones, are from Oregon, but travel around the U.S. selling their stones and crafted jewelry. This year marks the fifth time they have been in Victor because they just love what the town and the vendors offer.
“It’s a sleepover with our gem friends, so we are all here camped by our booth,” Griebel said.
For vendors like Birch, each ring and necklace they display is made by hand and crafted with love.
“I often I’ll start with a rough stone, and I cut it into slices and then I polish it,” Birch said. “That’s called lapidary when you polish it all up, then I design the piece around it. I just look at what it is that the stone is, and it kind of gives me an idea of the piece, what I’d want to do with it.”
Stones are often found and traded all over the world, but some you will see at the show come from the Victor mines themselves. Griebel and Mendenhall are selling stones they just found days ago.
“We mined this (mineral) four days ago out at our friends’ mine near Lake George, just about an hour away,” Griebel said.
The show is all about good vibes as a small community remembers how they found their hidden gem in the first place.
“It’s pretty lucky for the people of Colorado to have that here in your home state,” Griebel said.
The Gem and Mineral Show will wrap up on Sunday, June 22nd. The festivities will take place in Downtown Victor around Victor Avenue and North Third Street. There is no cost to attend.
